angeles. obviously, a group that the republicans have said they want to make some inroads against. how serious are those comments, do you think? >> oh, i mean, look, this is going to reverberate i think with all kinds of demographic groups. it's going to reverberate with working-class white people who don't pay taxes. it's going to reverberate with women, it's going to reverberate with military families. i don't think there's any group that in some way won't either hear about what he said or see themselves somehow reflected in it, but i agree with shira. i think that given their focus has been pretty intently on the base for all this time, usually you try to do two things -- you try to win the base, turn out the base and win, peel off some independents in the middle. they're going to have to re-double their efforts if they want to go to the middle again. >> i want to bring in david corn, washington bureau chief for "mother jones." good to see you. also, author of the book "showdown." david, gi